EU Ambassadors claim Boris Johnson tells them he supports freedom of movement… Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has privately told at least four EU ambassadors that he supports freedom of movement – despite the Government’s hard stance on Brexit. One ambassador said: “(Boris Johnson) told us he was personally in favour of it, but he said that Britain had been more affected by free movement of people than other EU member states. Another said the Foreign Secretary was even more forthcoming, saying: “He did say he was personally in favour of free movement, as it corresponds to his own beliefs. But he said it wasn’t government policy.” – Sky News …which the Foreign Secretary’s office has swiftly denied Boris Johnson’s office has denied reports that the foreign secretary supports freedom of movement – despite reported claims to the contrary. His office told ITV News Deputy Political Editor Chris Ship that Mr Johnson was “totally against” freedom of movement. It added that he was “pro controlling immigration”. – ITV Chaos as backlog of European migrants applying to live in Britain ‘trebles post-Brexit’ There are more than 100,000 outstanding applications from European citizens “currently in process” of securing British residency since early July 2016 – a huge surge from June 2015’s figure of 37,618. The figure, to be published by the Home Office today, also includes EU citizens who have applied for residency passes for their non-EU relatives. – Daily Express Registration for all EU residents in the UK will be a ‘formidable’ task – Daily Telegraph CBI warns May that immigration shakeup could harm economy – The Guardian London needs its own Brexit deal, says Mayor Sadiq Khan Sadiq Khan said the city might try to reach an agreement for special work permits to allow EU nationals to take up jobs in the City after the UK leaves….He [said]: “London’s businesses must retain access to the skilled workforce they need in order to grow – it’s absolutely essential to protecting jobs, growth and tax revenues across Britain over the next decade. I will keep pushing the Government to recognise this vital need in their negotiating position – but it doesn’t look like they are listening. If the Government ignores the needs of business and pushes ahead with a new system that cuts off access to skilled workers, then we will have no choice but to look at a London-specific solution.” – LBC Economist tears apart idea of a ‘soft’ Brexit Patrick Minford, who is part of a group of economists who supported a Leave vote, has said Britain cannot remain a member of the European single market post-Brexit….He said: “There are two ways to do it one is to do the so-called ‘soft’ Brexit … which is basically you don’t leave the EU you just stick around in the single market with all these things that we don’t like happening, no control over our laws, no control over our unskilled immigration. How can that be what the people wanted? How can it be consistent with the vote? – Daily Express Brexit talks could last just 15 months as UK and EU agree time is tight Prime Minister Theresa May’s government accepts a Brexit deal will need to be struck in less than 15 months of talks if the U.K. is to avoid tumbling out of the European Union before establishing new ties with the bloc, a British official said. While the EU’s Lisbon Treaty allows for two years of discussions once Britain formally requests a divorce, both sides are facing up to the likelihood of a shorter time frame, given that the final accord will need to be approved by the European Parliament. – Bloomberg Bank of England Governor Mark Carney urges more clarity over EU withdrawal plans Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, called for a “degree of clarity” in the country’s approach to Brexit after an increasingly muddled approach from Theresa May’s government. Carney said: “It is preferable that firms know as much as possible about the desired endpoint, and as early as possible about the potential path about that endpoint.” – The Independent Mark Carney is right about Brexit and the City – Daily Telegraph View > Andrew Lilico on BrexitCentral: Mark Carney now agrees with me – Brussels would be mad to stop EU businesses from accessing the City EU negotiators outrank UK ministers in Brexit ‘power list’ Britain may have voted to leave the European Union, but its short-term fate still lies predominantly in the hands of foreigners, according to a new Brexit “power list” that attempts to measure who wields the most clout in the tricky negotiations to come. Theresa May and Germany’s Angela Merkel jointly share top spot in the Brexit50 ranking – drawn up by a panel of independent experts – as befits their respective roles as Britain and Europe’s most powerful politicians. – The Guardian Women top EurActiv’s ‘Power List’ of Top 50 Brexit influencers – EurActiv Download the #Brexit50 list in full – EurActiv Britain’s housing market is defying the Brexit doom forecasts Britain’s house prices have defied forecasts of doom and gloom following the country’s vote to leave the European Union, according to new data from luxury estate agent Knight Frank. According to Knight Frank’s latest UK Residential Forecast report on Wednesday, “conditions have improved into the autumn” and will remain to do so until 2021. – Business Insider Brexit: rising frustration across EU at Britain’s unclear exit strategy EU diplomats and officials have admitted to mounting frustration with the UK’s opaque Brexit strategy, but insisted Europe’s position on Britain’s departure from the bloc remains unchanged. Sandro Gozi, Italy’s Europe minister, told the Guardian there was growing concern on the continent that the situation “seems to be far from clear in London. And we don’t know what the starting basis will be in negotiations.” – The Guardian ‘Hard Brexit’ could push banks out of Europe altogether A hard Brexit deal would hurt Europe as well as the U.K., a senior representative of Britain’s powerful financial services sector has said, warning that Singapore or New York could be the “biggest beneficiary.” In a sign that the U.K.’s banking sector is swinging behind the British government’s position that the EU has an interest in delivering a Brexit deal that is not overly punitive, Gary Campkin, director of policy and strategy at TheCityUK industry body, told MPs there was a “really big threat” some firms would withdraw, not just from Britain, but from Europe altogether. – Politico Simon Wolfson says the Out and In camps must work together to win the best possible deal ‘There is a natural alliance between those people who voted Out but who believe in an open, free, tolerant economy and those people who voted to remain.’ Wolfson tells me when I meet him in Next’s London headquarters on the Tottenham Court Road. ‘That natural alliance forms an overwhelming majority of people in the country and it is their ethos and values that should dictate the future.’ This will be the next mission for the thinktank he now chairs, Open Europe. – Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise interviewed in The Spectator Gisela Stuart talks referendums, free movement, hate crime and Labour’s attitude to Brexit Her European immigrant past makes her opposition to free movement somewhat ironic. She calls the single market “a political construct from the beginning”, arguing that, “there’s never been a logic to why trade and the free movement of people had to be inextricably interlinked. “I’d always been puzzled about why socialists in particular thought that there was anything that particularly social-democratic about the single market . . . if you’ve got this kind of uncontrolled movement of people you cannot plan for your public services.” – Labour MP Gisela Stuart interviewed in the New Statesman European Court of Justice has ‘ultimate authority’ on Article 50 The most senior British member of the European Court of Justice has told Sky News that the ECJ has “ultimate authority” over Article 50, the formal process to divorce the EU. Advocate general Eleanor Sharpston QC said Luxembourg would not interfere with the Government’s Supreme Court appeal against a ruling that the Brexit process cannot begin without a parliamentary vote. – Sky News Why ministers should put the case that the EU referendum is binding – Nicholas Strauss, QC for The Times (£) Brexit legal challenge: Theresa May ‘faces 11-0 defeat in Supreme Court’ over her Article 50 vote appeal Theresa May is heading for an 11-0 defeat when the Supreme Court justices rule on whether Parliament must approve starting Brexit, a law professor has predicted. Professor Michael Zander QC said the High Court judges who ruled the Prime Minister could not act alone when triggering the Article 50 notice had given a “unanimous and very strong” decision. – The Independent The Brexit Case, R (Miller & Dos Santos) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union – the Parties’ Written Cases – UK Supreme Court blog Lawyers for Britain submission to the Supreme Court in the Article 50 case published – Lawyers for Britain Supreme Court justices appear to have adopted a self-imposed vow of silence – Edward Fennell for The Times (£) Joshua Rozenberg: The Government’s Article 50 appeal at the Supreme Court really is a landmark case 11 is the largest panel to have heard a single appeal, not just since the court was created seven years ago but since its predecessor was established in 1876. But perhaps the greatest issue at stake is the reputation of the judiciary, at a time when judges are under attack as never before… The show is certain to end on a cliffhanger, with the ruling not expected until the new year. All told, we are set for a courtroom drama the like of which Britain has seldom seen before. – Joshua Rozenberg in The Spectator Allister Heath: Leave voters’ patience is starting to wear thin as they fear betrayal The reason why so many Remainers now feel able so openly to undermine Brexit is because the government has allowed itself to portray Britain as a supplicant, a divided, rudderless country. To European diplomats, it looks as if our government’s heart is not really in this, and that our strategy is purely defensive, a bid to retain as close links to the EU as possible….The Tories are more popular than anybody can remember, with the country in the midst of a historic shift to the Right, caused in large part by the fact that the pro-Brexit majority still believes that Theresa May will deliver for them. She cannot afford to let them down, even if that means taking the greatest gamble of her career. – Allister Heath for the Daily Telegraph (£) The Spectator: The outline of a sensible Brexit strategy is starting to emerge For decades, Britain’s approach to the EU was to stay in and try to evade its most damaging schemes. It seems that Mrs May is planning to do the reverse: leave the European Union and then opt back into the schemes that she finds useful. The EU will probably demand a high price for this. We might end up, like Norway, being charged a substantial amount for access to various institutions — and this may even be worthwhile. After months of talk about hard vs soft Brexit, the outline of a sensible compromise is beginning to emerge. – Spectator editorial George Eaton: The Remainers aim to beat Brexit by playing a long game In public, few Remainers dare to give voice to the thought that the UK may never leave the EU. In private, far more confess that they hope and believe that the status quo could endure. In this regard, they now resemble the Leavers of old. Until the referendum, few Brexiteers publicly declared that the UK should depart from the EU. Borrowing a Trotskyist tactic, they made demands incompatible with continued membership. The call for a “soft Brexit” derives, in part, from a similar logic. The Leavers won by playing a long game. The Remainers hope to triumph by doing the same. – George Eaton in The New Statesman Stephen Booth: What might the UK’s deal with the EU eventually look like? The assumption that “manufacturing relatively straightforward; services harder” is a decent prediction. Retaining zero tariff trade on goods should be simple enough, given the large volumes already traded and the relative ease of doing so in other trade agreements struck by the EU. The real difficulty in all trade agreements is the liberalisation of services markets. This is more politically contentious because it delves far deeper into the domestic regulation of economies and usually requires advanced international mechanisms (or “foreign courts”) to settle disputes over how these regulations should be interpreted. – Stephen Booth for CapX George Trefgarne: Brexit is in danger of losing momentum Momentum, ultimately, has to come from the Government. People often quote Theresa May saying “No running commentary”, or “Brexit means Brexit.” But they have forgotten her other soundbite: “And we are going to make a success of it.” So has she. There is not much in the short term Ministers can do, but it would help if they could cheer up and at least sound positive and look like they are intent on embracing the opportunities of Brexit. There are three areas in particular where they could be much more optimistic in tone, content and style. – George Trefgarne for Reaction Brexit comment in brief Norway would like to help forge a solution to the UK’s single market dilemma – EurActiv Power to the people, not the mouthy few – Wetherspoons chairman Tim Martin in Hospitality and Catering News Will Brexit come unstuck in Richmond Park? – Stephen Bush in the New Statesman Why Britain needs a written constitution – Anthony Barnett for The Guardian How quantum physics may explain the British government’s negotiating strategy – Buttonwood’s Notebook in the Economist Angela Merkel’s refusal to let Britain win a good Brexit will boost the case for a quick, clean break from the EU – Asa Bennett for the Daily Telegraph Brexit news in brief Brexit is not seen as a threat by 74% of manufacturers – Institution of Mechanical Engineers IT and computing businesses do not see Brexit as a threat – PCR Magazine Trade and diplomatic ties between the US and UK will be as strong as ever, says US ambassador – The Chronicle Peter Bone tables “Trigger Article 50” Bill – Guido Fawkes Downing Street to brief foreign media on Brexit – FT (£) And finally… Claire Perry jeered as she tries to coin the term ‘Smexit’ A Conservative MP was greeted with jeers in the chamber today as she attempted to coin “Smexit”, which she said was a contraction of “smart and smooth Brexit”. Claire Perry mentioned the term as she urged Theresa May to protect workers rights as Britain leaves the EU and deal with concerns over regulations in new businesses such as Uber. – Huffington Post